VLOG – Is Serra Mesa a safe place to live in San Diego?

This is the complete overview of the Serra Mesa neighborhood in San Diego, California and why it’s an amazing place to raise a family. 

Where is Serra Mesa Located

Let’s describe Serra Mesa a little bit so you get an idea of what this place is all about. Serra Mesa is located in a very central part of San Diego it’s essentially just north of Mission Valley, so it’s on a bluff or a mesa right above Mission Valley. You’ve got Mission Valley to the south and it’s roughly bordered by the 8 freeway and then it’s bordered by the 805 freeway and 15 freeway. They kind of converge at the North side of Serra Mesa and then you’ve got Aero Drive at the top and that really is what creates Serra Mesa. 

Some of the notable features around there is the Aztec stadium. It used to be called Jack Murphy or the Qualcomm Stadium but that has been completely torn down and now it’s the Aztec Stadium and SDSU Mission Valley. That’s a new notable feature that is right next to Serra Mesa that you have easy access to when you’re living in Serra Mesa.

Serra Mesa is really interesting because of the bluff or the mesa, there are a lot of canyons that cut through it. So it really cuts up Serra Mesa and there are some very large canyons that go through here, which is pretty neat because there’s some hiking you can do in there right in the middle of the city. Most people don’t know that there are little trails so you can walk around there to take your dogs out to play and ride bikes.

Now with the canyons, something to keep in mind is that there is wildlife around here. The main thing to keep in mind is that there are coyotes that you’ll see occasionally in Serra Mesa. The coyotes aren’t going to harm people. They’re small and you don’t see them too often, but you will see them occasionally. What they do go after is cats! They definitely like to go after cats! If you’ve got cats, keep them inside and watch out for those coyotes! 

The other interesting thing about what these canyons do is because it cuts up Serra Mesa, it creates all these streets that kind of have dead ends. There are a lot of streets that kind of wind around and dead end which creates cul-de-sacs. So this is why it’s such an amazing area to live in San Diego especially if you’ve got kids because of these cul-de-sacs – traffic really slows down through these neighborhoods. 

People tend not to speed through and because they’re dead ends. These create places for your kids to play without having to worry about cars zipping through. That’s a pretty awesome feature of Serra Mesa.

Check out all the homes for sale in Serra Mesa here

Restaurants and Shopping in Serra Mesa

Serra Mesa is mostly homes and it’s kind of a bedroom community, so although there are some shops and restaurants in Serra Mesa, there are not a whole lot. But there are a few. There’s a fitness center, coffee shops honestly it has one of the best Mexican restaurants in San Diego to find probably the best carne asada burrito you can possibly get.  

There’s also a really great community Park located right in Serra Mesa and that’s called Murray Ridge Park. It was built back in the 90s and it has playgrounds for kids and has this huge grassy field that’s great for playing soccer, football, or ultimate frisbee. It also has a couple of basketball courts and tennis courts.

Schools in Serra Mesa

The schools in Serra Mesa are very good according to niche.com.  Most of them are rated A-to A+. There’s a mix of public schools and private schools. In fact, there’s a school called Elevate which is a public charter school that’s based out of a church at Faith Community and that’s ranked one of the highest in the state. Children that go to school there of course have a very wide choice of elementary schools, there’s a junior high school as well which is Taft Junior High.  

And then you’ve got Kearny High School which is actually like a high tech campus so there’s four different programs. There are four different main schools within kearny and you can choose what your direction you would like to pursue. If the primary field you want to pursue is engineering or digital design so you can really dial in what you’re looking for as a high schooler and help prepare you better for college

Serra Mesa is Centrally Located

The other great thing about Serra Mesa is that it is so centrally located. It really is within five to 15 minutes of most places within the city of San Diego. Now of course to get to the rest of the county, it can take longer.  You can be in the beach, downtown, or airport within 12 minutes. Very quickly you can get virtually anywhere and get to east county very quick in 10 to 15 minutes to go ride your bike at Mission Trails.

Some of the places that it is nearby are places like Mission Valley. You’ve got Civita Park which is a brand new park that was built in Mission Valley in an old quarry. I’ve got a whole video and blog post about that. It’s also very close to the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park. These are really awesome places that you can go and visit with your kids or with friends that are visiting and really have a fantastic time seeing all the animals. You can really learn a lot at Balboa Park as there are so many museums you can check out. It’s super cool and really walkable. 

Of course you’re very close to the beach as well. There are multiple beaches around that you can get to really conveniently. You can get to Mission Beach and Pacific Beach and Mission Bay. Those are just right down the 8 freeway – those are the closest beaches you can get to from Serra Mesa. 

In a really short amount of time but even then you can just shoot up into La Jolla and you’re there within 15 to 20 minutes. Then from there, there are lots of beaches nearby.  As you’re heading north then you’re very conveniently located to places like Legoland. Legoland is about 30 minutes away from Serra Mesa. When people come from out of town and want to go check it out you can hit Legoland pretty easily.

There’s also the Safari Park that’s a little bit further drive that’s about 45 minutes away from Serra Mesa. As you head to the east – you get o East County. Again there’s Mission Trails which is a fantastic area to hike and do mountain biking in. From there you can go a little further into the mountains. There’s beautiful hiking out in the mountains that’s going to be a further drive – about an one hour 1 ½ hours. 

Types of Homes and Prices in Serra Mesa

Serra Mesa Has been pretty affordable for quite a while now it is becoming more and more discovered so what’s happening is prices are starting to get higher, but it’s still fairly affordable for what you’re going to get. A lot of the homes here are mid-century homes, so a lot of these are now being renovated oftentimes by house flippers to create 

that mid-century modern that a lot of people are really interested in. 

The homes were mostly built in the 1950s to 1960s. That’s predominantly when they were built so some of them have been excellently maintained by their owners. Others are needing repairs so sometimes there’s some opportunity and then others are being flipped as well. So there’s kind of a mix of homes as you’ll see as you drive around Serra Mesa. 

Is Serra Mesa Safe?

It’s also a very safe area of San Diego you can take a look at public records and see exactly what those crime statistics are today. It changes of course every so often but it’s very low. So it’s a very safe neighborhood to enjoy with your family to walk your dog. You’re going to feel safe at night.

That is the complete guide to Serra Mesa – everything you need to know about living in Serra Mesa. If you have any questions at all about it please reach out to me at 858-2841-2568 or info@sandiegohomes.io – I’m happy to answer any questions for you.

Curtis Chism, Realtor
858-281-2568 | Mobile
mailto:info@sandiegohomes.io
Chism Team | DRE #02105113
brokered by eXp Realty | DRE #01878277